The Power He Knows Not
by Mr-Chang
Summary: This is a Post OoTP alternate universe story. Harry returns home from King's Cross after his 5th year having just met some order members who ask the Dursley family to behave. But seeing the order members again has brought back memories of that fateful night when he lost his godfather and almost lost his friends. Filled with grief, guilt and anger Harry starts discovering his powers
1. Prologue: The Boy who Lived, Again

**Disclaimer: **Everything is owned by JK Rowling, I'm merely playing with the characters and the magical world.

**A/N: **This is my very first attempt at writing fan fiction. I'm super excited. I have most of the story in my head. This is just the prologue as I wanted to test out how publishing works on fanfiction.

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**Prologue**

**The Boy Who Lived, Again**

Surrey was an ordinary British town, Little Whinging was an ordinary British neighbourhood, Privet Drive was an ordinary British steet and the car pulling into the driveway of the perfectly ordinary looking number four seemed to be a perfectly ordinary car. Yet, the occupants of this car were as far from ordinary as possible. One of the occupants to be precise. It was a lanky boy, with jet black hair, a kind face and round glasses. Perhaps what was most extraordinary about this boy was the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. This boy was indeed, Harry Potter.

As the car pulled into number four's driveway it became clear that the occupants inside were really upset. Nobody uttered a word as the boy opened his door and stomped inside angrily the moment the car came to a halt. The snowy white owl in the cage he carried hooted angrily at being handled roughly. "We're not dragging your stuff inside boy!", yelled Uncle Vernon after him. Uncle Vernon, the head of the Dursley family was a wide as he was tall if not wider. He had a meaty face, meaty hands and a meaty moustache. His face looked a cross between anger and fear as he glanced around the house as of looking for Russian spies. Then he started stomping towards the door himself declaring to no one in particular - "Get his stuff inside!"

As he walked away, the two other occupants of the car looked at each other in disbelief. The woman, Petunia Dursley looked as different from Vernon as she possibly could. In all honesty, she looked more like Harry than the other two Dursleys. Tall and thin, her features could best be described as hawkish. It seemed like she was deep in thought for all but two seconds before her features morphed into the same anger and fear displayed by Vernon. She looked around nervously before turning to her son, "Dudley dear, your cousin is not well, why don't you bring his stuff into the house and I'll get dinner going." With that she started walking towards the front door herself, leaving a boy, about as wide as he was tall, gaping at her with his mouth hanging open.

Dudley could not believe what had just happened, he'd just witnessed his father being bullied by freaks at the train station and now it seemed his parents wanted him to pick up Harry's luggage and bring it into the house for him. This was outrageous, Dudley was not going to stand for this. You see, Dudley Dursley had been brought up without an ounce of decency. He started bullying Harry, with the encouragement of his father, since before he could speak. Ofcourse, since it took him a lot longer than usual to speak that might have been a factor. At the age of 16 he was already ripe to have a heart attack. He was about 200 pounds overweight with a chubby body and a chubby face. It was this chubby face that was contorted with blind rage at the moment. No! Dudley was not going to stand for this. How could the freak dare to presume he would bring up his stuff like some common mule. He'd teach him a lesson, and he'd teach him that lesson right now.

With that final thought Dudley stomped towards the front door, he banged it open eliciting a shriek from Petunia who stood in the hallway frozen at the look Dudley had on his face right now. She did not know but this was the look that was always on Dudley's face when he was about to beatup or bully younger kids at school. She stood frozen as Dudley raced up the stairs as fast as he could, which wasn't quite fast to be honest. And there was another loud BANG as her son crashed through the door of the smallest bedroom of number four.

"You freak!" he bellowed at a stunned Harry. Hedwig screeched. "You think you can get away with this? Having those freaks at the train station threaten us. You will get what you deserve this time, and no one will come to save you." With that Dudley took two large steps and grabbed Harry by his collar yanking him straight off the floor. BAM! A right hook, Harry's glasses flew off and he heard rather than feel his nose break. BAM! Another right hook and Harry was starting to loose consciousness. Dudley let go of him and Harry's feet immediately gave way. He crashed to the floor and tried to squint through the blood dripping down his eyebrow where Dudley's finger ring had made a puncture wound. He could vaguely see the outline of Dudley's huge body grabbing something long off the table, and then swing it towards his head. Harry raised his right hand weakly to protect his face.

BAM!

And with that every single glass in Number 4, Privet Drive shattered into a million pieces. This BAM was like a canon fire which shook the entire street. Car alarms were blaring and dogs were barking as Petunia tried get herself off the floor outside the room to where she had hurried after her son. The door had broken clean off its hinges. There air inside was dusty and the wooden walls were splintered. The Harry was lying in the center of the room with his face covered in blood and his arm outstretched. His eyes were staring at the wall besides her. She followed his gaze and shrieked at the sight that met her. Her Dudley was lying face down in the corner of the room totally unconscious with his arm sticking out at an angle that arms generally should not stick out at.

The last thing Harry saw was Petunia shrieking and hurrying towards Dudley. And then, there was darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: A Sultry Saturday

**Disclaimer: **All our bases belong to JK Rowling

**A/N: **At this point I have a good idea of where I want this book and its sequel to go. I already have some rough material written down, so for the next few weeks I would be able to churn out a chapter a week.

The prologue and this chapter were originally a single chapter but I decided to publish them separately. Chapter 2 will be out before 4th of July.

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**Chapter 1**

**A Sultry Saturday**

20th June 1996 was a very hot summer Saturday. Privet Drive in little Whinging was experiencing a quiet afternoon with residents choosing to stay in the coolness of their living rooms than be outside. There was absolutely no one on the street, or rather, almost – absolutely no one, there was one exception, an unusually extraordinary young woman sitting on a bench at one end of Privet Drive. She would have looked ordinary at a punk rock concert but in this street her appearance was borderline crazy.

Sitting on a bench near Number 2 was this woman with bubblegum pink hair. She was wearing a grey hoodie that seemed to be too hot for this weather, which was probably why she had a frown on her face as she sat there looking into oblivion with her deep blue eyes. She glanced around quickly before tapping her fingers on the thin long wooden stick she was holding half hidden under her hoodie sleeve. She whispered something and gave a sigh of relief not unlike one you'd give when a cold breeze hits you on a very warm day. But there was no breeze, or was there? You see Nymphadora Tonks, was a witch. A witch who was also an Auror, like the wizard police you know. A witch who had just cast a cooling charm on herself. A witch who was momentarily happy. But just for a moment though before her thoughts turned to how late it was getting. The sun was ready to set and there was still no sign of the car that she was waiting for.

Nymphadora, or Tonks as she liked to call herself had been part of the welcome wagon at King's Cross about two hours ago when Harry Potter had come back from Hogwarts along with the rest of the school. _Of course, you know all about Hogwarts._ She had watched in silence as Mad-Eye Moody and Arthur Weasley had a little 'chat' with the Dursleys. Now ordinarily that little exchange might be considered muggle baiting, but Tonks had heard stories about the Dursleys and how they were the most horrible muggles alive, Hey, they might even be the most horrible humans alive. Now she was here waiting for the Dursleys to get back home, of course the moment the Dursleys had left King's Cross she'd apparated back to her home and then taken the floo to Arabella Figg's house. So she'd been waiting for about an hour before she saw the black sedan approaching from the other end of Privet Drive. She tried to look inconspicuous, the pink hair were a great help in that.

As the car pulled into the driveway of Number 4, she saw Harry Potter jump out as quick as he could and hurry inside. She felt she knew Harry quite well now, she'd spent most of last summer tailing him on Order assignment. There were times during last summer when she'd felt bored. She felt she'd been given the easiest assignment of all and she wanted to be in the middle of some action. Her outlook had changed since. The magical world was still reeling under the consequences of the battle at the ministry. She was still trying to come to terms with the loss of a friend and a mentor. She knew that the loss would have felt a million times more for young Harry. Having already lost his parents it would have been devastating for him to lose his godfather too. She was not going to let any more harm come to this boy, not on her watch. Tonks almost felt like a guardian angel. Perhaps her mother could adopt Harry and he could come live with the Tonkses, Yes, that ought to be safer. She shook herself out of her daydreams and looked at the house she was supposed to be guarding.

The two elder Dursleys had followed Harry inside leaving his cousin outside. He seemed to mumble to himself for a bit before following his parents into the house. It was hardly a minute later that Tonk's first heard a commotion, it seemed someone was yelling inside the house. She wasn't sure if she should do something yet as there'd been plenty of yelling the previous summer usually followed by Harry sulking out and going for a long walk.

She'd just gotten up from her bench when the yelling stopped for a second, and then it felt like someone pulled away the ground from under her feet. There was a huge explosion inside Number 4 shattering all the windows and taking the air out of her lungs. She fell to the ground with an "Oomph!" This was not good, this was not good at all.

Her wand was trained towards the house in a flash and she quickly cast a Patronus carrying a call for backup. There was no point bothering with the statute of secrecy right now, this looked pretty bad. Which is why she'd addressed her message straight to Dumbledore, oh yes, she wasn't taking any chances. She'd just started sprinting towards the house when a series of 'pops' made her stop in her tracks and duck behind a tree for cover. She carefully peered at what was happening and her heart almost stopped beating. There, in the middle of the street were atleast six fully hooded Death Eaters flanking a hideous creature that was Voldemort himself. In broad daylight, in the middle of the street, in front of Harry Potter's house. She saw Voldemort raise his hand and the front door of the house exploded into splinters.

Tonks was running out of options, to say she was outnumbered was an understatement, to say she was completely outclassed by Voldemort's presence was just plain fact. She could give up her cover and try to distract the attackers, but to what end? With their strength in numbers they'd be able to subdue her quickly and probably kill her in the process. And there was no telling how long the rest of the Order would take to arrive. The worst part was that she'd only mentioned the explosion in her message, which meant the others were going to come into this mess unprepared for a battle this size. Her train of frantic thoughts was broken by a yelling figure that emerged with a metal wand in his hand. Vernon Dursley was red with rage, she could not make the words out but she was stunned by the bang that went off as one of the hooded figures started walking towards Dursley, The next second was a blur, The Death Eater Dursley had pointed the shotgun at fell to the ground, Voldemort sent a flash of green towards the door and Dursley fell on his doorstep with a sickening crunch.

There were three pops on the other side of the street and Tonks could make out Kingsley, Mundungus and Mad-Eye ducking for cover as the remaining five Death Eaters started firing a myriad of curses towards them. Voldemort himself was not distracted by the chaos as he started walking confidently towards the front door of Harry's house. This was it, Tonk's thought to herself, if she could hit Voldemort with a surprise curse he might be delayed enough for Dumbledore to arrive or Harry to escape. The plan had a fatal flaw though, as in, the plan would probably be fatal for her as once Voldemort realized who was attacking him he'd probably make quick work of her. There was nothing for it, if it meant she had to give her life to give Harry a fighting chance, she was going to. Dumbledore had made it amply clear to the order that Harry was the most important person in this war, even more important than Dumbledore himself. And with that thought she jumped out from behind the tree and started sprinting towards the house firing stunners in quick succession at Voldemort's slithering figure. Her first stunner missed it's mark and that instant was enough for Voldemort to disapparate with a pop and reappear about 10 feet behind her. She turned around and she was petrified. No, she wasn't petrified out of fear, She was literally petrified in place staring into those red eyes and that snakelike face. Through the corer of her eyes she saw Mad-Eye put down one of the Death Eaters leveling the odds a little.

Unfortunately Voldemort saw that too. His face contorted into pure evil rage as he looked at her and hissed, "Foolish child! AVADA KEDAVARA."

* * *

Dumbledore was not having a great day. He was not having a great week. As a matter of fact he wasn't having a great month. They wanted to make him Minister of Magic. Exactly! he'd been in exile for the last few months because the current Minister thought he was after the job and now they wanted to force him to take it. He couldn't blame them, ever since the battle at the ministry the magical world had been in complete chaos, and it was a very human thing to turn to someone else to fix their problems.

There were times that Dumbledore doubted his decision of not sharing the prophecy about Harry Potter with the public, times like these made him happy about his choices. He could not bear to imagine the pressure the magical community would put on young Harry to rid them of Voldemort if they were to know that he was the only one who could do so. As such, they did not, and Dumbledore had his own intuition to thank for that.

He'd spent the last few days dealing with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and its head Amelia Bones coming up with a strategy to manage this war. He'd helped the ministry draft plans to secure the most important assets and buildings, both in the magical and in the muggle world. Although the violence had increased considerably since the ministry became aware of Voldemort's return, he had thankfully not gone completely overboard with killing muggles. Fudge had resigned pending an inquiry into his actions in the previous year and the ministry was currently functioning under an interim administrative council comprising of the heads of all departments and Dumbledore had been asked to sit in on meetings on more than one occasion to give his counsel.

Today however he was worried for a different reason, you see, he had yet another secret that he'd kept from everyone, another secret about Tom Riddle. About his immortality to be precise. At first he hadn't believed it himself, he still didn't want to believe it. But he had conclusive evidence now and all he needed to test his theory was take a little trip to Little Hangleton. He wasn't sure if he should do this alone, he knew it was going to be dangerous but he did not want to put anyone else at risk. With his mind made up, he got up from his desk and looked over at Fawkes. The sight of his faithful companion made him smile and think to himself that he wasn't going to be alone anyway.

He looked over to one of the many silver instruments that were littered around his office. This one in particular was of special interest to him, this one he'd stared at for countless hours last summer. He sighed as he thought it was summer again. Just as he was about to head towards the door the instrument he had been observing started to shake and emit a strange sharp tone. There were not many things in the world that could scare Albus Dumbledore, But the look on his face right now clearly betrayed the fear growing inside of him as he stared stupidly at the instrument. He thought after all that it won't happen so soon. Just then a shaggy wolf Patronus entered the room and spoke clearly in Nymphadora's voice, "Explosion at Harry's house, come quick." Dumbledore knew what had to be done. He raised his hand and Fawkes flashed in front of him for a moment before Dumbledore grabbed its tail and the two of them disappeared from the office.

They reappeared right in the middle of the Auror office where Madam Bones seemed to be addressing a large gathering about their latest strategy. In an instant, Fawkes was gone again in a red fiery flash. Amelia Bones blinked as she saw Albus Dumbledore appear in the middle of the chamber and shot him a questioning look. "It's happening... Harry. Are we ready?" was all she got back from Dumbledore. She realized this wasn't the regular Dumbledore they were all used to seeing. The mellow, slightly eccentric, old man. This was the Dumbledore that was the greatest wizard alive. There was power positively radiating from his entire body and it was very clear that every single person in the room was slightly scared of _this_ Dumbledore.

"Alright everyone! Listen up" Amelia Bones spoke in a commanding tone as everyone present in the chamber rose as one. "On my command we will be executing Operation Lightning. I expect everyone in this room who's been read in to be ready to go. Everyone else stay here and wait for further orders. Ready? NOW!"

* * *

They say your whole life flashes in front of your eyes in a moment when you die, Tonks eyes were open but she was no longer seeing the flash of green that was going to take her soul away. She was thinking if it was worth it? She'd been an Auror for all but two years, She'd seen more battles in that time than a third of the Auror force that was ailing away under the inept leadership of Fudge. Here she was, barely twenty-four facing her death straight on, at the hands of Voldemort himself no less. Will they sing songs of her bravery? Will they name monuments in her name? Probably not. But if Harry survived today, they will remember it was Nymphadora Tonks who gave her life to make that happen. Nymphadora, she always hated that name. Her thoughts turned to her mother, to her father, and surprisingly, to Lupin. Perhaps if there'd been more time.

And then her trail of thoughts was ended.

But not by the sweet release of death, instead by a bright red flash that seemed to devour the green hurtling towards her and burst into flames. She was stunned to see an ugly bird-ling drop with a thump to the ground.

"DUMBLEDORE!", hissed the snake. As if on cue, Dumbledore apparated behind him but the air continued to pop around them as Madam Bones, Gawain, Williamson, Bill Weasley, Proudfoot, Penelope and Savage appeared around them with their wands trained towards Voldemort.

Voldemort chose that moment to disapparate away, realizing he was outnumbered, the other Death Eaters probably chose to run away too as she head a series of pops from the other side of the street. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour as she tried to catch her breath. In her head she'd just died and this was like a second life to her. Dumbledore did not waste a moment as he grabbed her arm and started physically dragging her towards Number 4, "Tell me everything" he said. The others started to follow them, their wands trained at the surrounding houses which now had the residents gaping openly through their windows. In the distance they could hear sirens approaching. The muggles were responding to the weird events in their street.

"Clearwater," Madam Bones called out with authority, "Find Arthur Weasley, tell him to get here as soon as possible and to bring as many obliviators as he can manage."

Penelope nodded and disapparated. Tonks looked at the other side of the street where she saw only Kinglsey and Mad-Eye standing over a stunned Death Eater. Another one was dead in front of the Dursley house and there was Vernon Dursley's body at the front step. There was still no sign of Harry or his other relatives. Tonks quickly started filling in Dumbledore about the incidents of this evening, the explosion, the arrival of Voldemort brigade and the battle that ensued.

They entered the house and walked up the stairs towards where Tonks knew Harry's room was. As they entered they were shocked to see two teenagers lying in pools of blood and a hysterical Petunia Dursley who was sobbing holding her unconscious son. The moment she saw Dumbledore she jumped to her feet and shrieked, "YOU! YOU SAID THIS WON'T HAPPEN!" She started moving towards him and Dumbledore wordlessly stunned her.

"Unfortunately we don't have time for this. Madam Bones if you'd tend to the other child." with that Dumbledore kneeled over Harry's limp body and started muttering healing spells as he moved his wand over Harry's mangled face. "This one needs to go to St. Mungo's right away, he has internal spell damage." Madam bones said getting up. "I've stabilized him enough to survive a portkey." She grabbed a table lamp and threw it across to Gawain who caught it nimbly. He moved over to put Dudley's hand on the lamp when Dumbledore raised his hand and started levitating Harry's body towards Gawain. "Him too, make sure you do not leave his side and no one has access to him until you hear from me." Gawain blinked and looked at Madam Bones who simply nodded and pointed her wand at the lamp before saying, "Portus."

It was hardly a moment before Mad-Eye limped inside and declared, "Mundungus is dead, Bellatrix Lestrange, I did not see her face but there's no mistaking that horrible laughter." Tonks felt a tinge of guilt thinking of her relationship with that crazy violent murderer. "Rufus is outside along with a bunch of other Aurors, he's helping Arthur with containment. Kingsley is taking Nott to the ministry, I was able to stun him. Looks like Dursley used a gun to shoot Lucius Malfoy to death." Mad-Eye looked grim, he was the most experienced Auror in the room and if he was grim, things were definitely scary.

Dumbledore's face was pensive. You could almost see the cogs rolling inside his head as he tried to figure out what to do next. Tonks was still in a little shock, all she wanted to do was go home and cry in her mother's arms. Something on her face might have given that away as Mad-Eye limped towards her and kept a hand on her shoulder. This wasn't something Moody was famous for - being human. "You did good Tonks, it couldn't be easy standing up to him by yourself, and you should be proud."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and everyone looked at him expectantly, "This is what's going to happen, Madam Bones, the ministry can take care of the fallout from this battle, I daresay you might have to liaise with your special muggle contacts to make this go away. Mad-Eye, if I can request you to please take care of Vernon's body, When Petunia comes around she'd need to be sent to St Mungo's to be with her son. I'll be with them as soon as it is possible. I must start making arrangements to move Harry to a secure location. Unfortunately, the wards of archaic magic that protected this place due to Lily Potter's sacrifice have come down and this place is no longer safe."

With that he disapparated and one after the other everyone left the room leaving Tonks behind, standing all alone, in the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive. Still alive.


	3. Chapter 2: Turn Left Here

**A/N: **  
July 7th 2020, The world has changed since I put up the first chapter. My life has changed. I suffered a few tough losses and writing this story did not feel important for the last 6 months. Today I felt I need an outlet so I decided to pick this up again. The story may become slightly darker than I intended in the beginning, as the world has. We all cope differently, But we must not forget, **_"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."_**

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**Chapter 2**

**Turn Left Here**

_He was being bullied by Dudley and his gang and he was trying to hide in the school's broom cupboard. But he knew they would eventually find him. Harry was scared, he did not want to be beaten up again by his cousin. But they found him and started throwing punches and kicks at him without mercy. It hurt, It hurt really bad. It hurt really really bad._

Harry opened his eyes and blinked in confusion before a groan escaped his lips. The pain was real indeed, everything else, probably a dream. He couldn't think much right now though. He was in unbearable pain.

"Ah! Potter, you're awake at last!" came a familiar voice from not too far away. Madame Pomfrey came in with a goblet of a steaming liquid and pulled Harry to a seated position ignoring his shriek of pain. "Drink this, quickly please. Dumbledore warned me you'd need this weakening potion the moment you come around."

_Weakening potion? _Harry thought to himself as the matron drained the contents of the goblet down his throat making him cough and sputter. Immediately he felt like the pain was disappearing from his body. There was a thudding in his head that subsided and he felt much better. It was then when he realized that the world was super blurry as he no longer had his glasses, he tried to find them on the bedside table with his hand but he couldn't.

"What's wrong with me Madam Pomfrey?" he asked, still a little disoriented about how exactly he got to the hospital wing. He felt he remembered the school year ending and everyone going back. It did feel like his memories were a little bungled up at the moment.

The matron simply looked at him in concern before asking, "Potter, do you remember being injured at your uncle's house?" Harry shook his head. She started running her wand over his head and face muttering incantation after incantation. With each movement her frown became a little deeper if that were even possible.

Finally she stopped and conjured up a chair to sit next to Harry's bed. "Harry," this immediately made harry worry since he'd hardly ever heard the matron using his first name, "I'm afraid you seem to have some damage to your head, your memories seem to be all bungled up and I do not see any trace of foul magic in there to suggest that you were obliviated or your memories were altered by any other magical means. When you arrived here the day after school ended you had a lot of physical injuries along with accidental magic flaring up all around you whenever you gained a semi-conscious state. We've kept you sedated for almost eight days now. I am not sure exactly what happened. The headmaster asked me not to sedate you and give you a magic weakening potion as soon as you woke up today to avoid any accidental magic you may cause. I've asked one of the previous headmaster's of Hogwarts who has a portrait in the my office to alert Dumbledore. I'm afraid that is all the information I have for you at the moment."

Almost as an afterthought she added, "Oh, and you did not have your glasses with you when you were brought here so I'm afraid I don't know where they are."

Harry simply stared at her trying to remember anything he could but the last good memory he seemed to have was leaving Hogwarts to board the train home. His head hurt a little if he tried to think too hard. He was saved any more pain however by the sound of the infirmary doors being opened and Dumbledore striding up to his bedside. Madam Pomfrey made to get up from her chair but Dumbledore simply waved her to be seated before conjuring himself a bright magenta armchair that in Harry's opinion looked extremely ugly.

"Harry, I am glad that you're awake. I need to speak to you about one thing too many but before we do that I just want to make sure if you need to be moved to St Mungo's." Dumbledore said making Harry blink. His mind was still a tiny bit confused. Dumbledore looked at Harry for a moment before turning to Madam Pomfrey. "Is there any lasting damage that you couldn't heal?"

"Honestly headmaster, I'm not entirely sure." she said before turning to harry, "Potter, your body is completely healed, there's definitely no lasting damage due to your physical injuries. However I'm afraid your memories of the day leading up to the incident that brought you here are gone forever, there's nothing I can do to help you remember those." She turned to the headmaster again and continued, "As for the magical flare ups, it's clear that his body is currently coping with more magical energy than it's used to and I honestly don't have an explanation for where that came from or the reason it's happening."

Dumbledore nodded at her. Something about the nod told the matron that she needed to check something in her office as she immediately got up and left the two of them alone. Dumbledore was still looking at Harry but it was difficult for Harry to make out the expression on his face as the world was still blurry for him. Dumbledore must have noticed him squinting because he moved his chair closer to his bed.

"Harry my boy, I do not know where I should begin. These conversations between us where I am explaining away a mistake I've made are becoming far too common and an old man is starting to realize how fallible he is." It was now that Harry noticed that the headmaster's eyes looked genuinely sad. "Let me begin this conversation by apologizing, as I have begun the last few conversations. I hope you can forgive an old man who felt too powerful in the not so distant past and made decisions that are coming to bite him back now. I also hope that what I will reveal to you today will not diminish whatever little respect you have left for your headmaster after our last conversation in my office. Believe me Harry, I was going to reveal all of this to you over the course of the next year before you turned seventeen. I did not expect the circumstances as they've turned out."

Harry just looked at Dumbledore, he felt like a small amber of anger was being stoked inside of him as the headmaster beat around the bush. Harry had done a lot of thinking after the incident at the ministry and the revelations made to him by Dumbledore after that and he'd come to the conclusion that while Dumbledore was no doubt a champion of light, he was full of flaws and, by all means, a scheming scumbag. After what the headmaster had revealed to him last summer Harry felt like a pawn in a very large game of chess being played between Dumbledore and Voldemort. As a matter of fact he felt that everyone else was just another piece in this game between two grandmasters. The Order, the Weasleys, the Ministry, the Aurors, the Death Eaters, the muggles, the teachers and any other entity remotely related to the events now unfolding were pieces on this grand board game.

Dumbledore continued as he understood there was not going to be a response from Harry yet, troubling as it was for the headmaster. "You already know that I feel that placing you with your muggle relatives was a big mistake, it was my mistake and mine alone. I felt that it was the right thing to do at the time and given what I know now I think it was a wrong one. I should have taken the time to speak with the correct authorities, get the Dursley's vetted properly but you must understand Harry that at the time it all happened there were no authorities. The ministry was in shambles and it took almost a year for it to start functioning as it was. There were also the remaining death eaters who would have wanted to hurt you and that was a chance I did not wish to take. For putting you through what I have for the last sixteen years, I am sorry Harry."

Dumbledore sighed as he waited for all this to sink in. Harry thought about what the headmaster had just said and wondered what exactly was it that he did not remember. He'd decided he was going to take everything Dumbledore told him with a pinch of salt from the moment he'd left the headmaster's office last term so he made up his mind not to come to any conclusions without having all pieces of information that he could force Dumbledore to reveal. "Professor, If you can tell me what exactly happened after I boarded the Hogwarts express that has landed me here I would be able to understand what you're saying a little better." Dumbledore nodded.

"You know how your mother's sacrifice protects you in the house where you live with your relatives who share your mother's blood, correct?" Harry nodded slowly and Dumbledore continued, "It seems that the moment you went back to the Dursley house you had a really bad altercation with your cousin Dudley. What made him act in the way he did is beyond my understanding and he is currently locked up in a secured ward in St. Mungo's so what happened between you and him in your room is a total mystery to me at this point. The DMLE has refused to give me access to the boy." Dumbledore shifted uncomfortably. "Someone from the DMLE will also be visiting you here today to talk to you about these events and there will be an investigation about how you came to be living at the Dursley's in the first place. The only reason I was able to get you here was because your condition was a little strange and keeping you at St. Mungo's was dangerous for both you and the other occupants of that building."

He gave Harry a minute to process all this before continuing. "The altercation Harry was extremely violent and we could figure out that your cousin hit you in the head with a heavy object till you lost consciousness. I know all this by piecing together the evidence we found at the scene, the next part is, for the lack of a better word, my guess. My best guess if you will, but nothing more than mere speculation afterall. I believe that at this point your mother's magic was invoked again. I do not know how it happened but the blood wards around your house came down and the remnants of that powerful archaic magic somehow channeled through you and knocked your cousin into an unconscious state while causing a good amount of damage to the house and the surrounding street." Dumbledore sighed before he went on with his story. "I believe that Voldemort was somehow monitoring the state of protections around your house and he made a move at you with some members of his inner circle immediately after that. The order, me included, and aurors arrived just in time to save you."

Harry was shocked to hear the extent of things he did not remember and then his thought immediately turned to the fact that Voldemort and the death eaters were at his house. He knew that Dudley was at St. Mungo's but surely that meant his aunt and uncle were.. "Professors?" Harry looked at him, unable to speak the words.

"Vernon Dursley was killed by Voldemort himself. He used a muggle gun and killed Lucious Malfoy before his death. Your aunt is safe and is currently being held in St. Mungo's along with Dudley pending further investigation by the DMLE."

Harry was speechless. His mom, his dad, Cedric, Sirius and now Dursley, he mentally added one more name to the slowly growing list of people who'd died directly as a result of him being connected to their lives. He had no love for his despicable uncle but did he wish for him to die? Not really. Suddenly he felt really tired. It felt like the weight of the world was too much for him.

Dumbledore stood up noticing the boy's discomfort. "I know it is a lot for you to process, I will ask Poppy to give you a potion of dreamless sleep so you can rest a bit. I will let the DMLE know that you are now awake so they will send someone to see you tomorrow morning. I will speak to you more once you are feeling a little better." With that Dumbledore briskly walked over to the matron's office.

Harry was still dazed when Madam Pomfrey made him drain a goblet of dreamless sleep potion and then, he knew nothing anymore.

* * *

Back in London, Amelia Bones sat down at her desk at the end of another long day. The fallout from the catastrophic attack on Privet Drive had been very difficult for her to handle. The fact that there had been no formal proceedings before placing a wizard child into the care of muggles when Harry was just a year old simply added to the list of bureaucratic bungles the previous administration had done. The presence of Lucious Malfoy's dead body, someone who was supposed to be incarcerated in Azkaban at the time added another question to the already hefty investigation it was going to be.

She'd spent a good amount of the last week cleaning up the mess. Someone had to take charge in the power vacuum left by fudge and it was natural for people to follow Madam Bones who'd always been seen as one of the strongest witches and fairest witches in the Ministry of Magic.

During the first two days of investigation it had become clear that the Dementors had already switched sides and every Death Eater who was meant to be in Azkaban had been released back into the wild. Malfoy included. The DMLE tried to round up as many of the Dementors that were still in Azkaban trying to imprison them within the walls of prison itself. They were successful in securing about half of them but about 200 or so had escaped to join the growing ranks of Voldemort's army. They also raided the Malfoy Manor and arrested Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. Narcissa for abetting a known death eater and Draco, surprisingly, for possessing the dark mark. Under Veritaserum Draco had confessed to being ordered to kill Dumbledore during the coming school year. It was clear that the minor had been forced to take the mark by his father and he did not have much choice in the matter. Amelia just did not know what needed to be done with him. Perhaps she would leave it to the Wizengamot to decide. They were both being currently held in a new temporary detention center located in Scotland. Only a handful of people knew the location of this facility which had been afforded every kind of protection available including a Fidelius charm. Dumbledore had been made the secret keeper. All was lost anyway if the old wizard was defeated. For now.

After the cleanup she had been offered the position of Minister of Magic and the Wizengamot was going confirm her new position in their July session. But all was not well for Minister Bones, two days ago her house was attacked and it was an extremely lucky coincidence that Dumbledore was having tea with her, discussing the future of one- Harry Potter. She had been shocked to see Voldemort himself had shown up to finish her off, something that she wouldn't have been able to escape had it not been for the old headmaster. But that shock was nothing compared to how she felt when Dumbledore revealed the existence of the prophesy to her. She could appreciate why Dumbledore had not revealed the prophesy to Fudge and his administration. She also got the distinct feeling that Dumbledore was only revealing it to her because she somehow fit into the grand sorcerer's grand plan. She sighed, Dumbledore and his plans – couldn't live with them, couldn't survive without them.

Since the attack she had taken refuge in her office at the ministry. Using a small room in a magical trunk as a place to sleep. She was about to retire when there was a knock on her office door. It wasn't uncommon for people in her department to still be working this late so she quickly adjusted her robe and pointed her wand at the door which unlocked and opened to reveal her new assistant Percy Weasley standing in the doorway. Percy had been one of those young ministry employees caught up in the fall of Fudge after the Ministry attack a few weeks ago. His father had pleaded to Amelia to save his career and quite honestly she had found him the most loyal and useful employees she'd had in her career.

"I just receive word from Hogwarts, Minister." Percy said has he walked towards her desk.

"I'm not minister yet Weasley. Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Amelia Bones responded waving for him to sit down and continue.

"Harry Potter is conscious now and Madam Pomfrey thinks we can speak with him tomorrow morning or any time after that" Percy informed her as he took the offered seat. As Percy began to pour himself a cup of tea a small paper airplane flew magically to the Minister's desk. Amelia quickly unfolded it, her face turning white as she read its contents. She looked at Percy, a very strange look, almost of pity.

"There's been an attack," She said, in barely a whisper. "Devon, on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole."

Percy's mind did not register it as the teacup left his hand, fell to the ground and shattered in a thousand pieces.


	4. Chapter 3: The Bravest of The Three

**A/N: **  
July 16th 2020, Still bleak, still going, the future holds something good for all of us. We will get through this.**_"_**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**The Bravest of The Three**

On a moonless summer night in the country side, there was a boy, a young boy, perhaps in his mid teens looking out a window. A window that was attached to the edge of a crooked wall. A crooked wall that was part of a room sticking out at an odd angle from a house. A house that seemed like a collection of rooms stuck together, as if by glue, or maybe, by Magic. The boy was Ronald Weasley. The youngest son of the Weasley clan, and one of Harry Potter's two best friends. He was staring out of his window, located just below the attic, into the darkness surrounding the Burrow. It had been more than a week since he'd been told about the attack on Harry's house. He was worried and he felt absolutely useless as things stood. He had tried to ask his parents about Harry's whereabouts only to be denied any new information. All anyone would tell him was, "Harry's safe, you'll see him soon." It was frustrating. It also made him feel bad about himself, thinking about the same time last year, when Harry was the one stuck alone without any information.

It was tough being in a house full of Order Members, but being the youngest of them and not of age yet he was kept away from all the important meetings. He was stuck alone with Ginny. Argh! He had come to hate Ginny, he did not realize when she'd suddenly become this annoying teenager dating his roommate from school. Maybe it was the stress but tempers had been flying high that evening in the Weasley household. Arthur Weasley, the head of their clan had not returned home yet, 'Order Business' was all Ron knew about his father's whereabouts. Molly Weasley was downstairs making dinner, Dinner that Ron wasn't getting tonight because of the extremely loud row he had with Ginny earlier that day that got both of them grounded without dinners. Not like he cared much, his mother's cooking had also taken a hit, she spent less time watching the food and more time staring that the special Weasley clock.

The clock with a hand for each of the Weasley family members, rather than telling the time, indicated the status of each member of the Weasley family. Instead of numbers, there were various phrases such as "home," "school," "work," "travelling," "lost," "dentist," "hospital," "prison," and "mortal peril". These days the hands for any of the members not at the Burrow or at headquarters would generally point to "mortal peril."

Ron was hungry though, he was really hungry, something he was famous at school for. Always being hungry and eating like a hippogriff. Maybe if he apologized to Ginny and then the two of them went down together Molly would relent and give them some food. Ofcourse she would, she was Molly Weasley. She loved feeding her children.

Ron sighed and walked out of his room, down a flight of stairs and then knocked on his younger sister's room. His only sister's room. Ginny Weasley was the youngest child of the family and no matter how much they fought, Ron knew that he loved her. Sure! somewhere deep down.

Ron knocked again, there was no answer so decided to go down and face his Mother alone. By now he was almost dizzy with hunger. He walked down another few flights of stairs arriving in the kitchen. Molly looked up at him, she was lazily pointing her wand at a bowl and ladle, mixing away some batter on its own. When she saw Ron enter all the color drained from her face. That, was strange. Ron stood there frozen, this was not the reaction he expected. He expected his mother to turn red, not colorless. He expected her to shout at him, or atleast tell him to go back to his room because he wasn't getting any dinner tonight. No, he realized, it wasn't his arrival that elicited that reaction. Dread filled his entire body as he realized his mother was not staring at him but rather a few inches to his right, straight at the Weasley family clock.

Ron turned around slowly, time seemed to slow down as mother and son watched as three hands started to move away from "Home". They were moving, slowly, both of them knew where they were going, what they did not know was- why? Had something changed? Did Dumbledore die? Was everyone now in more danger or was it something about the Burrow? Just as the three tiny hands came to a halt at "Mortal Peril" their questions were answered in the worst way possible.

It was as if all the air was sucked out of the kitchen followed by a huge explosion right outside their front door. Molly was the first to react, all the lights in the house went out with a flick of her wand. They could see brief flashes of spellfire outside, red, green, and bright yellow. They knew someone from the order was always assigned to the Burrow, they knew being close to Harry they were a target and Dumbledore wanted to keep them as safe as possible. They heard a few shrieks, a few thuds and then- silence. Ginny had rushed down the stairs after the explosion, she had clearly been crying before and she was crying out of fear right now. Her body was trembling and she had death written all over her face.

The three of them were crouching near the kitchen table now, holding hands. They noticed that the spellfire and commotion outside had been replaced by an eerie silence now. They knew it could only mean one thing, if the order member had survived he would have been coming into the house to check on them. Since that was not the case, it could only mean that whoever was defending them was either dead or they'd managed to escape.

"Wonnie Wonnie! Come out and play!" the unmistakable cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange rang out into the silent night followed by laughter. Laughter by so many different voices that the three Weasleys were scared scared to even think about how outnumbered they were. "Wonniekins! We know you're in there! Did you forget your pet knows how to get into the cracks of your old hut?"

The three Weasley's were trembling in fear right now, Ron looked at his mother, trying to calm his nerves. He knew their options were closing fast and he knew that he was probably the main target of this attack. There are times when your life flashes past your eyes, this was one of those times. Ron quickly thought back to the first day of school, his first ride on the Hogwarts express. His decision to sit with Harry and their eventual friendship. Had he, in that moment 5 years ago, sealed the fate of his mother and his sister? Were they going to die because the 11-year old Ron was starstruck by Harry and really, really wanted to be his friend? Perhaps, perhaps it would have happened irrespective of him trying. They both ended up in Gryffindor after all. Gryffindor- brave, reckless, stupid. It was finally time for him to prove he belonged there.

"Mom," He whispered, "I'm going to create a diversion…" "No!" Molly cut him off, sensing where this conversation was headed. "Listen to me Mother!" Ron cut her off again, a sense of urgency in his voice, along with a steely determination.

"Even if you try to distract the Death Eaters while I and Ginny make a run for it, neither of us can apparate, we would only make it so far before they catch up to us. Don't forget that they're probably here for me more than anyone else and there's a good chance they want me alive as bait for Harry. If I take Ginny they will hunt us down and probably kill her and they'll surely kill you as you try to distract them. The only thing that makes sense is I create a distraction while you two make a run for it. I'm assuming they've erected anti-apparition wards so take Ginny through the meadow and try apparating there. See if you can get help, but make sure they arrive in numbers. I'll try to buy time and not let them take me away for as long as I can."

Molly was in shock, everything her son was saying seemed true, she would probably last a few seconds against the Death Eaters outside if she was lucky and Ron, on the other hand may not be killed by them right away. There would be a chance to rescue him and there would be a chance to save her precious Ginny. She had tears in her eyes as she nodded slowly. "Ron I'm so sorry..." She started but Ron raised his hand to make her stop. "Now mother! Be ready, I'm going to the front door and pretend I want to surrender, I hope I can get the attention of as many of them as I can" With that Ron tightly squeezed his mother in a quick hug and crawled his way towards the front of the house.

Molly know they wouldn't have a lot of time. She quickly disillusioned herself and her daughter. Ginny seemed to have lost her voice, she was sobbing silently as she held onto her mother. They both crawled to the kitchen door that opened into their chicken coup and backyard, ready to dash for it. Molly could clearly feel the weight of anti-apparition wards and knew she'd probably have to sprint around a 100 yards before she made it to a safe enough distance to apparate.

"I'm coming out! I want to give up!" They heard Ron shout followed by laughter. It was clear that there was atleast one voice at the back of the house too. But Molly was hoping they might be able to slip past that person. "I'm coming out! Now!" She heard Ron say, she knew that was her cue. She slid the back door open just as she heard more laughter and her front door opening. It was pitch dark on this side of the house, the Death Eaters had clearly lit their wands at the front of the house and the house itself was creating a long narrow shadow that Molly thought would work to her advantage. She pushed Ginny in front of her and the two of them started moving away from the house keeping as low as possible. She'd heard the voice laughing slightly to their left so she veered to the right and continued through the bushes and open vegetation behind the Weasley home.

It was then that she heard a voice that chilled her to her bones, it was coming from the front of the house, clear, as if magically amplified, "Ah! The best friend! Come, come Ronald Weasley, I have so much I wish to ask you about your little friend, Potter" While she had never heard Voldemort's voice herself, Molly knew it had to be him. Lord Voldemort was outside her house and her youngest son was facing him alone as she fled. She heard some words being spoken, she could make out Ron's voice but she was getting farther and farther away from the house now. There was a lit breeze and it was masking the sounds coming from the house, it was probably also masking their escape sounds, silent as they were trying to be they were still making some noise while rushing away.

All of a sudden Molly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her body, she knew she'd crossed the threshold of the anti-apparition wards. She held tightly onto Ginny's arm and twisted on the spot disappearing with a faint pop along with her daughter.

She reappeared in London, outside the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, tears were running down both their faces as they ran towards the door. Dumbledore had charmed the front door using some very complex wards, it was able to recognize order members and clicked open as Molly pulled at the front handle. They were barely two feet inside when they saw Dumbledore and Remus Lupin walk out of the kitchen door, obviously coming to check who had arrived unannounced at the headquarters at this hour.

Dumbledore's demeanor changed instantly as he saw their tear soaked disheveled appearances. "How many?" was all he said as he quickly walked over to Molly and Ginny, Remus following in his wake.

"I don't know Dumbledore! Too many, and they have Ron!" Molly was starting to get hysterical now. Having more adults around them had allowed her to show her weakness. She knew her daughter was safe and she could openly worry about her son now. She grabbed Dumbledore by his hand and looked at him beseechingly, "My son! Dumbledore! They have my son!" She continued to sob and then all she could manage before collapsing on the floor was, "He's there too."

Dumbledore left the crying woman where she was on the floor, he was afraid her tears may not stop for a long time if what he feared came true. He had to act quickly and decisively. The order and DMLE had trained for a scenario where Privet Drive was attacked countless times. The Burrow was never considered as big a priority. Clearly he'd been wrong. Clearly a young man's life was now at stake because he was wrong, again. "Remus, apparate atleast half a kilometer away from the Burrow, North, near where the path to their house meets the main road to Ottery St Cachpole. Try not to be seen, I'll try to gather as many of us as I can and meet you there. We need to go in together, wait for me to arrive and don't do anything stupid." As he was finishing his last words there was a flash of light and he disappeared along with a young Fawkes who was barely able to fly.

Dumbledore arrived, once again, with a flash of fire in the middle of the DMLE. Kingsley and Proudfoot were the only ones there at this hour. They were accompanied by a young witch Dumbledore did not recognize as a past Hogwarts student. He repeated the same instructions he'd given Remus before disappearing in Phoenix Fire once again. This time he reappeared in the living room of a rundown house outside London. He knew he did not have the time to gather a lot of people one by one, and if he was going to be short on numbers he was going to take in the best.

Mad-eye looked up at him from his dining table. The sudden arrival of the Wizard and the look on his face told him everything he needed to know. He stood up, grabbed Dumbledore's arm and nodded. Bless him, Alastor would follow Dumbledore blindly into a volcano. Blindly and bravely. Dumbledore turned slightly and they popped into existence next to Remus and the three Aurors waiting for them.

At a distance they he could make out the modest outline of the Burrow up in thick flames. There wasn't any spellfire or other activity near the house. The surroundings were well lit by the intensity of the flames. "Let's get closer then, in the middle of the front yard, wands out and together, 3, 2, 1" And the 5 wizards and 1 witch apparated right in front of the Burrow. The heat was intense and all of them instinctively used a cooling charm on themselves. It looked like the Death Eaters were gone, Dumbledore could generally sense magic about him and there wasn't any right now.

He had barely started scanning his surroundings when he heard a grunt from Mad Eye who started limping towards a large tree near the front of the house. Dumbledore's heart stopped for a moment when he saw the reason why Moody had started walking towards the tree. There, Crucified side by side on the large trunk were two bodies. Motionless, lifeless, magicless. The others followed Moody and Dumbledore.

As he approached, Dumbledore flicked his wand and the bodies were released from their cruel bonds and floated gently to the ground. The first, was an order member. Penelope Clearwater, He recognized her face instantly, lifeless as it had been three years ago when the Basilisk ran amok at Hogwarts. And then he had to face what he'd been dreading for years now. Someone dead as a direct result of his quest to bring Harry face to face with Tom, Someone whose loss he knew would devastate Harry. One from the famous trio of Hogwarts, Ronald Weasley lay dead in front of them, he wasn't the smartest of the three friends, He wasn't the kindest of them either. He was, the bravest of the three.


End file.
